Human Rights Activist Quotes

Vaclav Havel didn't want to ride around in big black cars. And he had his own car with a little red heart on it. And he loved to go out and talk to the people.

One thing of the many things that I know about Jesse Jackson, he is persistent.

Charles Kernaghan is a legitimate American hero... Through his determination he has forced the leadership in our country and many other countries around the world to pay attention. Kernaghan has done more to expose child labor than has the whole Department of Labor that has a budget of hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, because he has the guts and determination to do it.

John Lewis being attacked as "talk, talk, talk" by president-elect [Donald] Trump because he said he didn't consider him a legitimate president.

John Lewis is an icon in our society.

Raif Badawi's is an important voice for all of us to hear.

[George Clooney] knows exactly what he wants and so he knows that you've done a good job before you do.

Nelson Mandela was an outstanding leader and a mentor for me. I was in South Africa at the time he was released. I was in South Africa when he was inaugurated as the first president.

Akbar Ganji is a human rights activist in Iran and he works on freedom of expression and he does his job very well.

Akbar Ganji was in prison for six years, and that was it...for six years, and it was finished. Of course the Iranian government could make up some stories and accuse him of some other things, but the international support didn't let the government do that.

The system was afraid of Vaclav Havel. And so they either harassed him for put him in jail.

Vaclav Havel was a really popular leader. He couldn't believe that he was really there. I mean, he still dressed in black T-shirts and jeans and was very kind of '60s. And he began to realize the seriousness of it. And he knew how to strategize. And he had a very keen political sense, but he didn't want to be like the old communist leaders.

I'm a dad, I'm a husband, I'm an activist, I'm a writer and I'm just a student of the world.

When I was growing up, Mandela's name was synonymous with terror. We were scared of him. You couldn't see any photos of him. A photo of him could have gotten you in jail.

One thing we are sure of is there's no one like Nelson Mandela out there. That's too bad for us.

My family’s said to me from the beginning, ‘People are always going to tell you to pick what you want to be when you grow up. You take that and throw it out the window, that’s garbage. People are complicated and we love many things and we’re passionate about many things. You can be a human rights activist and also be doing these comedy plays in your community and that’s OK. All those things are a part of who you are and you can love them equally.

I wanted to tell the story of Luong Ung, who's a dear friend of mine.

I'm familiar with Andrei Sakharov reputation, but I don't know his personal history at all.

Sad to hear that George Michael has died.He was an exceptional artist and a strong supporter of LGBT and workers' rights.